Artistic and cultural activities strengthen a community’s economy, particularly when they reveal and celebrate its character and identity. At LISC, we create opportunities for residents to gather and make social, physical, and economic changes that preserve and amplify the uniqueness of their community through events, public art, food, music, and other related businesses and culture bearers.
Creative Placemaking
LISC’s creative placemaking or creative placekeeping initiatives help residents in disinvested neighborhoods make social, physical, and economic changes in their neighborhoods through arts and culture. Efforts might include a major investment to renovate a historic theater or build affordable live-work space for artists. They might transform a weedy lot into a lively gathering place or turn an abandoned church into a community exhibition space. And they might support dance festivals and mural programs that beautify a building or neighborhood.
Culturally-Driven Entrepreneurship
We support community organizations serving artists and other creators who build successful businesses, like musicians, craftspeople, artists, and entertainers, as well as cultural food-related businesses. Development projects can organize entire cultural districts to expand community wealth and employment. In addition to financing the development of cultural amenities, we bolster entrepreneurs through LISC’s small business support networks.
The LISC Difference
Arts and culture investments are most successful when embedded in broader programs that address the full range of local needs, including affordable housing, education, health and safety. As part of our initiatives, we:
- Finance creative placemaking projects and entrepreneurs with loans, grants, equity investments.
- Support local community groups as they integrate the arts and culture into revitalization activities through technical assistance.
- Measure and document community outcomes of cultural and arts-based programs.
- Share our knowledge about what works and how to implement high-impact, enduring creative projects.
Project highlights
We are seeing strong results from integrating creative placemaking with other community-centered economic development initiatives—demonstrating that a district’s identity and culture are an essential component of revitalizing not only its physical space but also its social and civic fabric. For instance:
- South LA: Organized $30 million to revitalize the historic Crenshaw Boulevard business and cultural corridor with LISC’s New Markets Tax Credit Program.
- 7th Street Corridor in the Bay Area: Funded a new music entrepreneurship incubator in a historically black neighborhood.
- Anacostia in Washington, D.C.: Financed the redevelopment of an arts center as an inclusive community hub and funded artist stipends to implement placemaking and beautification efforts in the community.
See more examples of best practices and projects in the LISC Resource Library.
Join us
We can create positive change together.
Contact Cari Morales, Program Officer, Economic Development.
News & Impact
Creative Workforce Development: Bridging the Gap between Traditional & Arts-centered Workforce Development
A report from arts and community organizations gathered by LISC to integrate culturally resonant and creative approaches into new holistic economic, community, and workforce development strategies.
Additional Resources from the Creative Placemaking Technical Assistance Program (CPTA)
CPTA program is a partnership program between National Endowment for the Arts’ Design & Creative Placemaking team and LISC with toolkits, case studies, and more.
Dreaming Futures: Black and Indigenous Solidarity in Phoenix
A 2023 report documenting three conversations on building Black and Indigenous solidarity offered by a coalition of art and culture organizations in Phoenix, AZ.